“Resident involvement is the driving force behind improvements. As residents from all walks of life we work alongside staff to make a difference in the communities we live in”
We will achieve this through the following objectives:
• Increased customer satisfaction with opportunities to participate in decision-making
• Increased involvement at local neighbourhood level
• A greater range and number of ways for our customers to choose to get involved with us
• A clear and consistent message about our commitment to customer involvement given by our staff and running through our documentation.
• A strong feedback link and between our board and our customers
• Evidence of our commitment to work towards excellent service standards
Resident Involvement at Mercian Housing Association
Resident Involvement is at the heart of Mercian, we give residents as many opportunities as possible in as many ways as possible to get involved.
Resident Involvement is crucial for us when making changes to our services to ensure they are what our customers actually want and to ensure the service delivery is meeting the standards we promise.
Residents can get involved in many different ways but it’s not just us that benefits. Residents getting involved find it very beneficial too.
What can residents getting involved expect?
- Support from a committed Customer Involvement Team
- Childcare and Transport costs covered
- A chance to shape the service they receive as one of our residents
- Interactive learning sessions
How do we involve residents?
- Board of Management
- Resident forum
- Shareholding membership
- Tenant auditors
- Mystery shoppers
- Resident meetings and Site Surgeries
- Focus groups
- Homelife editorial panel
- Surveys
- Resident training
- Recruitment panels
How do residents monitor efficiency?
- Mercian has conducted a Best Value Review (BVR) of the effectiveness around Resident Involvement. This review echo’s the key lines of enquiry from the Audit Commission, and the timescales and actions are set and reported back to our Residents Forum
- Every three years Mercian conducts a satisfaction survey of its residents.
- Mercian produces performance indicators and compares them to other Associations in the country to help hi-light areas of good practice
- We involve residents and leaseholders in the recruitment of our new cleaning and gardening contractors, this has helped us to ensure the services we provide are what our residents actually want.
Resident Involvement Impact Assessment
As part of our commitment to resident involvement and to ensure that our services meet regulatory requirements and, more importantly, are effective for our residents, every year the Community Involvement Officer at Mercian creates a document called an Impact Assessment.
This document lists all activities undertaken by the Resident Involvement Team and measures them for their suitability, value for money and how accessible they are for our residents, as well as the effect they have on service provision. Click on the link below to view our Impact Assessment for 2009/2010.
For more infomation on how you can get involved, email Katy Sara, Community Involvement Officer on ksara@mercian.org.uk.
Are you a Mercian resident? Why not tell us your views by answering our Question of the Month.
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